BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 3. Five persons have been placed under police custody in connection with the "Sputnik-Azerbaijan" case, Trend reports.
Police custody has been chosen as a preventive measure for them.
It was noted that these persons are Azerbaijani citizens and were released after their explanations in the criminal case were taken.
To recall, on February 24, the Spokesperson for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Aykhan Hajizada announced that the Azerbaijani branch of the Russia Today (Sputnik) news agency had been shut down.
He said that the mentioned organization could only be accredited through a single correspondent.
Nevertheless, it became known that Sputnik Azerbaijan continued its operations and its staff kept reporting to work.
On July 1, during an operation at the office of Sputnik Azerbaijan news agency, executive director of Sputnik's Baku branch, Igor Kartavykh, and editor-in-chief Yevgeny Belousov were detained. Both of them have been charged under the following articles of the Criminal Code: 178.3.1 (fraud committed causing large-scale damage), 192.2.2 (illegal entrepreneurship with large-scale income), 192.2.3 (committed by an organized group), 193-1.3.1 (legalization of property obtained through crime), and 193-1.3.2 (committed on a large scale), and the Khatai District Court has ruled for pretrial detention as a preventive measure.
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